The real stories from inside the F1 paddock

Good news for Vijay

The Competition Commission of India is reported to have given its approval to the $2.2 billion deal that will see British firm Diageo take control of the United Spirits group, by buying a 27.4 percent stake and then acquiring an additional 26 percent stake by buying out public shareholders. This may help Mallya’s grounded and now route-less Kingfisher Airlines, although the first priority will be to pay off the creditors who have started to make moves to recoup their money in other ways. The deal was agreed in November but progress through the anti-monopoly body was slow. Mallya keeps saying that the troubles of one company do not affect the other firms in which he has shareholdings, but it is hard to imagine that at least some of the cash will not be going towards the airline, unless even he has finally concluded that it could be a lost cause. With no planes, no flying licence, no routes, an unhappy staff and massive debts it is hard to imagine that Kingfisher can be revived, but India is a funny place, so we should watch out to see if a resurrection is possible. Mallya says that financial troubles will not affect the Formula 1 team.

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Mallya is a member of the Indian Parliament. He influenced lots of decisions of the Ex-Minister for Civil Aviation to tweak rules in his favor. I am sure he must be working on some of those angles at this moment.

Industrialist, who is also a Member of Parliament of a sovereign country. Who say only F1 is infested with conflict of interests at all levels? :-)

But ad and likes him, because he plasters his came across many lines, and liberally, so if adland loves him, so do the editors.

So not much difference, the world around, eh?

The most interesting episode Tony F was involved with was that involving Mahatir Mohammed. Somehow I think TF managed to deal as he inevitably had to, with his government, and used Proton / Lotus and all that as a diversion o lever, both to get what he wanted, an to get out of that kind of all too cozy relationship a real businessman never wants. I think there’s a book in just that episode we know as the Lotus V Lotus sage documented here. Documented nowhere else, for certain. If you’ve not, please do take a look back. It’s a invaluable record.

I meant a episode within the Lotus V Lotus saga, because it was a important maneuver, and a real power adjustment that basically to my mind called the ultimate end of the naming cars argument long ahead of time. I really hope one of my comments actually called that one at the time, appropriately seriously, but I certainly thought that most significant, even if I didn’t then predict the ending. I think it a stupendously clever escape from political clutches on Tony’s part, and I’m confident there’s no other really robust reason or explanation.

Tony Fernandes has a very very rich sugar daddy. He is heavily backed by one Daim Zainuddin (go wiki him). He was the former Finance Minister of Malaysia and is widely known to be one of the richest men in Malaysia, although it is never published. As a shrewd business operative, Daim has been known to have ammased a fortune into the billions prior to and during his tenure in office and wielded much influence.

If you think about it, Tony was just running a record company. And all of a sudden be bought an airline, F1 team and Football team…you’ve got to have some serious cash behind you for this.

He needs to bow out of the Airline business. If he couldn’t make it a success when he started it, he won’t manage now with the growing competition in India. He doesn’t have the economies of scale other rivals do. Take the money, pay off the creditors and focus on his other businesses. Airlines rarely make their owners much money until they can achieve a certain size and status… a bit like a Formula 1 team.

I just hope TF will do a Heathrow to KL route again. Sad how he couldn’t keep up with the lunatic “eco” taxes. Would love to fly his nice new planes to see my friend. Not sure the taxes haven’t wrecked too much of the airline game lately. You look out on the websites for “discount airfares”, and the utter rot you a presented with, not a single website playing anything but twisted games of contorted logic to deceive you. Some even much with the tax numbers, more subtly than can be quickly explained, but watch out for that . .

Me, I’m going to meet up with my old friend Riaz, who was once called the bucket shop king in the papers, because I am certain there’s a wedge to be driven into this fruit cake, when every single site is up to as much skulduggery as the other. Failing that, top man and super company.

When Laker was destroyed by BA and Maggie’s plans to float them, this was the trick: they used the Skytrain collapse as a argument to introduce bonds (ATOL / ABTA) for brokers. When the self important lot got control of that, they refused to bond my pal, they didn’t want him to be there undercutting their fares. (My job at one time was to work out how to pull those fares from the SABRE screen and speed up finding the discounts. Note how closely related are all airline ticketing systems .. )

Now you see, Freddie had gained a court ruling of compensation in the billions, but Maggie telephoned The Gipper*, and got a Presidential decree to overturn the Supreme Court, so BA could survive to be floated. My late BP was in the class action, as he’d fly weekly. Got something like a hundred quid. What a joke, because Laker’s proposition was London to NY for 99 quid. The class action was for rigging the market to cut the legs off Laker, put him out, and compensation was for the increased cost of flying. Ronnie was, by the by, trying to save Pan Am. Both trying to act all pro business at the same time!

Anyhow, it was Freddie Laker who saved Branson’s neck, with Virgin Atlantic, having a clue and a half how things work in the real world / Whitehall.

As you’ve guessed, I am no a Branson fan, but I do like the fact Laker got one back via Branson’s outfit. Not much cop in F1, Branson, I think he slaps the Virgin name on things as a tax loss. If he’d meant good for F1 he could easily have built that team up seriously. That’s why I think he just fiddles the tax deductions, not actually does anything. Cannot be he has bad advice. If I was not already biased, a billionaire dabbling in a sport that needs money like you or I need air, is plain insulting. We might have another much stronger team on the grid, and he could still cash out with little to no pain, head held high. There’s a market for teams that are improving, not for teams that stay still or go backwards. Amazes me how the Marussia – Virgin Racing team is ignored. Yes, I think they are ignored. Not because lack of interest in the team, but because editors in the mainstream media are scared to make Branson look bad, and loose advert sales.

Freddie Laker’s career was set out by his experience running the Berlin Airlift. There’s quite a lot in books about him, that give a very good perspective of the can do attitude of then, and that time going into the post war era, when to my amazement still, people were allowed to endeavor and improvise and try hard, without red tape and general “have you got a permit” lifestyle we suffer from now.

*If you’ve ever wondered why Ronald Regan was called The Gipper, look it up. Very bitter sweet story of a young football player, who died all too young of a throat infection the kind we just pop a pill for now. All the more poignant because we’re by negligence letting infections become resistant to antibiotics, the same that would historically have saved untold lives. Make me Premier or PM or dictator for the day, and give me one decision only, it would be to make serious sanction over the use of antibiotics, literally bring failure to use properly in line with manslaughter charges, because the definition of criminality is harming society, and not completing a course does cumulatively harm society, and is leading to many tragedies. Please inform yourself and others in turn, because predictions of antibiotics failing are getting all too close to reality, and any wider even slight failing would be a unbelievable disaster. (public message quota fully used up for the month!)

I have sometimes wondered what input some team principals have on the pit wall, are the Vijay, Flavio types really the guys a driver wants chimeing in their ear as they’re trying to put a race together? Their role seems more of a flamboyant refuge for them or in Malyas case a welcome refuge from the business chaos. I wonder what Kimi’s point of view on this question would be?

Another Airline linked with F1 was Lauda Air which was formed by Niki Lauda but ran into financial problems and was taken over by the Austrian national airline. It did quite well for about 20 years though.

That is a ridiculous thing to say. What have I said that is racist about Indians? Nothing.
Back up your bullshit with some facts.
I expect you to withdraw it. If you don’t then you are not welcome here.
Never forget the Monty Python sketch “What have the Romans ever done for us…”. It applies just as well to the English in India.

Without wanting to reduce this forum to a slanging match it would appear from your comment: “a typical Englishman, who display no manners and are nothing but fools” as exposing you sir as the one making comments of a racist / xenophobic / nationalistic nature.

Personally I am glad that Vijay has managed to sell off some of his shares in the drinks business to realise some much needed cash. Lets now wait and see if he actually uses some of it to pay some of the many decent & hard working Indian’s who have been left unpaid for many months, causing them and their families much personal hardship.

Joe I fully understand if you choose not to publish this post for fear of ‘fanning the flames’ being created as a response to you journalistically reporting matters of confirmed fact.

While you may feel a sense of pride in Mallya as some sort of successful Indian figurehead and therefore feel the need to defend this fine upstanding doctor from perceived slights. You may want to consider the plight of his employees. You can be proud to know he seems every bit as selfish and ruthless as SOME shyster billionaires and CEOs of the west, who have ruined many a hard working decent persons retirement by blowing up their pensions and the global economy. So in that way India has arrived, if you want to admire the hoarding, manipulation and mismanagement of money by your over-leveraged icon, instead of everyday Indian business executives who further the economy in a stable fashion, then who is the fool? Your misguided rant against Englishman and hero worship of Mallya are an over-compensation for a lingering inadequacy representative of a third world country mentality – you’re holding your fellow Indians back.

Lastly what other country in the world opened its doors to as many emigrating Indians as England did? Nice to see the gratitude. I’m sure most Indians living in Britain are doing better than Mallyas unpaid employees.